USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Ipswich > Town annual report of Ipswich 1914 > Part 9
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Our text-books in the Elementary Schools have been al- lowed to get into poor shape. Our enrollment has increased faster than our supply of text-books. Some of the text-books we are now using are not the best available at the price. Without boring you with details at this time I recommend that adequate provision be made in the next year's appropriation for the pur- chase of sufficient text-books for every pupil in the Elementary Schools.
E. Evening Schools:
The value of Evening Schools is evidently not appreciated here. At the time of writing this report I have not been in per- sonal touch with our Evening Schools. In general I would say that we give far too little time and too narrow a course. We go as far as our appropriation will allow. In view of the fact that in the regular schools there are many pressing problems to be solved only by increased appropriation I do not feel that this is the time to increase greatly our Evening Schoola ppropriation. If next year $2000.00 should be provided, all that can be reas- onably expected will be done.
My last three recommendations will necessitate a substan- tial increase in the appropriation. I will preface them with a . statement of the two searching tests of any school system.
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IPSWICH SCHOOL REPORT.
These tests are:
1. The number of over-aged pupils in the schools.
2. The number of pupils who drop out before completion of the course.
In our schools we have 118 or 12 per cent. of the total num- ber over-aged. Why is this so? Because our equipment and the size of our classes make it very probable that those who could do normal work if given better conditions now do slow work. Individual attention to individual needs cannot be given. Proper instruction and proper courses for exceptional children is under the present appropriation utterly impossible. It costs about $25.00 to keep a boy one year in school. If he repeats a grade needlessly $25.00 and a year of his earning life is wasted. If forty repeat, $900.00 is gone. This repetition would almost disappear if a teacher at $600.00 should go from grade to grade to meet individual needs. Much money would be saved, but what is more important, a year's time would be saved, and for many pupils a year of working time gained.
The second test is the number of pupils who drop out of school before completion of their course. Take the history of the present Sophomore class in the High School. The follow- ing figures are probably slightly inaccurate but they represent the truth of the whole.
This year there are 58 Sophomores. Of these 11 are from Rowley and 47 from Ipswich.
We have as Sophomores 47 from Ipswich
This class as Freshmen was 78
In the 8 h Grade was. 76
In the 7th Grade was. 84
In the 6th Grade was 107
In the 5th Grade was 1.14
SHOWING HOW A TYPICAL CLASS WAS DIMINISHED IN SIX YEARS.
Pupils-14 107
84 76
78 - 47
Grade-5
6
7
8
Tresh. Sophamore.
Height of child indicates size of class.
The Public School is a commercial house selling education to our youth. We are holding less than 50% of our customers. Is this good business? Notice our heavy loss comes between the 6th and 7th. grades and between the first and second year in High School, this means that our course of study and our equipment is not meeting the real needs of our customers.
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IPSWICH SCHOOL REPORT.
This is a typical class. One-half the class have dropped out between the fifth grade and the second year in High School. Notice that the great loss did not come between the last year of Grammar School and the first of High, where some loss is to be expected. The steady losses come during the Elementary School and during the High School. That is, in the midst of the manu- facturing process. In commercial life a business house that could hold less than 75 per cent. of its customers would be a joke. We are holding less than 50 per cent. of our customers at the time we should be holding 90 per cent. This is not good business. We are saying to one-half of our students:
"Here is what we offer you. If it does not suit your needs, the sooner you leave the better."
. This is no time to "stand pat" and refuse to acknowledge our deficiencies. We are passing through a period of transition and re-organization in the manufactu ing process of education as well as in commerce and politics. It is time to question and examine. It is time that this community should know all the facts in the case, face conditions frankly and support the School Committee in their endeavors to provid for all the childrer. Our course of study throughout is adapted for those whose abil- ities lie in the direction of the academic training. We provide well for them. But how about those many children whose abi'. ities lie not in that direction, but ta e a heart for the practical, not intensely literary. We are not meeting the'r needs. Many of our children will make excellent carpenters, electricians, pain- ters and farmers. Why should we not train them upon the lines they are going to use as well as the French Syntax and Ancient History. As long as he course is confined as much as it is now to the traditional wo k, many of cur pupils quite properly lose interest and drop out. We should no longer be content to meet only the needs of a few, forcing all who stay to take that course. The one major problem is to reorganize our work so as to meet the real needs of all our pupils. That is the goal. How is it to
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IPSWICH SCHOOL REPORT.
be accomplished? In this re-organization we will need all the insight we have, but nothing of much consequence can be done until we have more adequate support from the Town Treasury. Before I submit suggestions concerning the next appropriation, let me put before your notice three recommendations:
A. Adequate provision to hold efficient teachers.
B. Extend practical work in the Manual Training and Do- mestic Science Departments.
C. Increase the efficiency of High School by providing
(a.) Better equipment.
(b.) More varied courses.
(c.) Two and one-half more Teachers.
(d.) Commercial Course.
(c.) Provision for heating the Assembly Hall.
A. I have already pointed out to you the questionable ad- vantage to the pupils in having so many new teachers each year. Our resources at present for salaries are such that we are help- less in competition with other schools. Consequently we elect too many inexperienced teachers and lose them after they have learned their trade. A consequent decrease in educational ef- ficiency is inevitable. We will need for salaries next year on a conservative estimate not including the expenses of the School Committee and its officers:
For Elementary Schools $14,000.
For High School 7,000.
For Special Teachers 3,000.
$24,000.
This does not include the emergency fund of $500. spoken of in Section II.
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IPSWICH SCHOOL REPORT.
B. I urge the advisability of an extension of Manual Train- ing and Domestic Science. This type of work is much more valuable to many children than the traditional academic work now over-emphasized in our schools. I urge it because I know it will help to keep our boys and girls in school by giving them something "real" to do.
To provide for the extension of this work I recommend:
1. For Manual Training.
(a.) More room. Some of the classes are now so large that we have two boys working on a bench. This gives a fair chance to neither. The basement of a new High School building or an entire Portable School (two-room type) would furnish adequate space.
(b.) Additional equipment. Our work is now se- riously hindered by lack of equipment.
(d.) Additional teaching. I recommend the increase of Manual Training from 3 to 5 days a week. The cost is reck- oned in to the salary estimate on the preceding page.
2. For Domestic Science.
For accommodations, the size of the present cooking and sewing room is inadequate to the growing needs of the depart- ment. At least one more rooom is necessary. It would seem wise to remove the equipment from the building now in use, and use the latter for a much needed store room. The present equipment with a few necessary additions could be set up in one of the several two-room buildings. We would have at small expense a building so equipped as to give every girl a practical training in the art of housekeeping, cooking, buying and man- aging. A move of this nature should appeal to the parents and
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IPSWICH SCHOOL REPORT.
the community at large, as the school girls of today are to be the homemakers of the future.
The use of one of the two-room buildings could be arranged if a new building of some size is provided for regular school purposes next year.
C. We must increase the efficiency of the High School.
At my request Mr. Clarence D. Kingsley, the Agent of the Massachusetts Board of Education. inspected our High School and sent me a statement. Until most of the weaknesses men- tioned are remedied, we will be unable to send our girls on Certificate to Normal School, and getting on to the College En- trance Certificate List is also out of the question. Mr. Kingsley's criticisms are unquestionable and authorative.
"In accordance with your request of November 11th, I send you herewith a statement regarding some of the conditions which I found at the Ipswich High School.
1. Condition of the Building.
The laboratory in the basement in bad condition but could be materially improved at a reasonable outlay. A ceiling would prevent much of the dirt which is now found in the laboratory. Adequate provision should also be made for running water and other facilities should be added so that the pupils may do ef- fective work.
No room is provided for drawing.
There is no commercial department in the school. This is an unusual condition in Massachusetts schools of two hundred pupils. In fact there are many High Schools with less than one hundred pupils which provide the entire time of one teacher for commercial work.
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IPSWICH SCHOOL REPORT.
There is no room set apart for study purposes. This is very unfortunate because it makes it necessary for each teacher to have a number of pupils studying in the room at the same time the classes are reciting. The pupils who are studying have their attention badly diverted and what is worse, the teacher is not able to throw herself into her classroom instruction as she should. There is always a certain restraint from the fact that she must divide her attention between the recitation class and the pupils who are studying. The large room on the third floor could be made into a study room. This room could seat the three upper classes in morning exercises and accommodate all study pupils of the entire school during the day.
There is no library in the school. This is a serious handi- cap upon the work.
I understand that there is inadequate provision for Manual Training and household arts.
The walls in the corridors and school rooms are in bad con- dition. The pictures were many of them not at all suited to the High School. The good effect of neat surroundings upon a group of High School pupils is very marked. The right civic sense and proper respect for the town cannot be expected un- less the town makes better provision for the appearance of the school building.
2. Number of Teachers.
The most serious difficulty in the school, however, is due to the fact that the number of teachers is quite inadequate to carry on the work successfully in a school of the size of the Ipswich High School. In order to offer the proper variety of subjects so as to meet the needs of the different pupils and at the same time not overload the teachers with so much worl: that they do not do it effectively, it is necessary that a school of two hundred ' pupils should have the equivalent of nine teachers on full time,
.
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IPSWICH SCHOOL REPORT.
Eight teachers with the half-time service of two additional teach- ers would of course be equivalent to nine teachers on full time.
The one session plan is not conducive to a spirit of serious- ness of work. We recommend the two session plan with an ad- equate intermission at noon.
I recommend that you consider the desirability of installing a heating plant. Such a plant would make the janitor service more efficient and at the same time reduce the coal bill, as such a plant could supply heat both to the High School and to the Elementary School building.
CLARENCE D. KINGSLEY."
There is no uncertainty as to what ought to be done by way of improving the High School. As it is not a matter of argument I shall submit these recommendations. . An expert has diagnosed the case. Further argument would be quite beside the point.
1. Funds be provided for decent laboratory facilities.
2. Funds be provided for the institution of a commercial course.
3. Funds be provided for the heating of the hall.
4. Funds be provided for the su- port of eight full time ard two part-time teachers.
5. Funds be provided for the repairing and improving the walls and ceiling of the recitation room.
Of course, if Ipswich boys and girls are not worthy of a training similar to that received in the average High School, there is no particular point in doing a better thing by way of education. If giving our pupils a good business training or
65
IPSWICH SCHOOL REPORT.
more thorough fit for higher schools appeal to the citizens as sound propositions, then the next Town Meeting should be given a chance to vote the necessary funds.
The following figures should suggest a reasonable appro- priation for next year:
General Expense.
Including the expense for Physician, Postage,
Truant Officer, Clerk, Printing, Tele- phone, Express, Superintendent $2000.
High School Salaries.
1 Principal
Miss Gardner
$1500. 800.
1 Sub-Master
1000.
1 Man Assistant 1000.
1 Commercial Teacher 650.
1 Woman Assistant at 600.
600.
2 Women Assistants at 550.
1100.
6650.
1 Principal. A Principal gives half time to teaching.
7 Teachers. 2 Special Teachers give half time to teaching. Equivalent to 1 teacher.
Actual Teaching Force of 8 Teachers
. Probable registration 225
Pupils per Teacher 28
Mr. Kingsley of the State Board recommends this number as least possible with probability of good work.
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IPSWICH SCHOOL REPORT.
1 Teacher for every 25 pupils is the standard practice. 1 Teacher for every 28 pupils is what we ask.
Elementary School Teachers.
Grape Island $320.
Linebrook 410.
Candlewood 0.
1 Man Principal for 7th and 8th Grades 1000.
Miss Arthur 700.
Miss K. Sullivan 700.
20 Teachers will be needed if we have 1 Tcacher for every 40 pupils.
6 Teachers at 500. $3000.
10 Teachers we want to hold at 575. 5750.
4 Teachers we cannot afford to lose at 600. 2400.
14,280
. Special Teachers.
1 Drawing Teacher part time required by law $450.
1 Music Teacher part time 450.
1 Domestic Science Teacher, full time
625.
1 Manual Training Teacher, full time
1000.
2725.
High School
$6,650.
Elementary Schools
14,280. .
Special Teachers
2,725.
Emergency Fund
500.
24,155.
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IPSWICH SCHOOL REPORT.
Emergency Fund to be used only to hold an efficient teach- er if another town out-bids us by a small amount during the year.
Comparison of Cost of Instruction Per Pupil in Ipswich With Four Towns.
$24,155. for 1050 pupils means
A. Average in State. 1912-13 $23.06 for two years ago
Ipswich $23.48 for next year.
B. Reading (town next largest) Paid $23.52 for two years ago
Ipswich $23.48 for next year
C. North Andover (town with same number of pupils) $22.25 for two years ago Special Teachers not included
D. Stoneham (having $500,000 less property than Ipswich and 65 more pupils than Ipswich) $23.12 for two years ago
Special Teaching not included
Ipswich $23.48 for next year
Ipswich $23.48 for next year
ยท In comparing what we ask for 1915-16 with what was paid in 1912-13 by
A. The State Average.
B. The Town next larger.
C. The Town having equal number of pupils.
D. The Town poorer and with more pupils.
We find that our request is not unreasonable.
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IPSWICH SCHOOL REPORT.
Janitor Service,
Winthrop, High, Portable
$780.
Dennison
165.
Wainwright
105.
Warren Street
250.
Payne and Burley
450.
Cogswell
150.
Linebrook and Grape Island
75.
1975.
Carpenter, Painter, Plumber at 2.50 a day
400.
2375.
1 13 cents a day per pupil.
Furniture and Furnishings.
1 Lathe
$75.
1 Saw
75.
1 Chemistry Table
75.
2 Desks
32.
4 Chairs
10.
2 Globes
15.
Equipment for High School Hall, Desks, Commercial Outfit 1000.
Unforeseen expenditures on basis of last two years
250.
Transportation.
Teams Car Fares
1500.
500.
Same as last year
1532.
2000.
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IPSWICH SCHOOL REPORT.
Buildings and Grounds.
Exact itemization impossible. Expense varies with building laws, what buildings are
used for. As some shingling must be done, two sanitaries built, much painting and re-surfacing interior of High School walls, we estimate $3500. $156.06 less than 1914.
Already contracted for one Fire-Escape $85.
One Metal Ceiling 220.
Supplies.
Estimated cost
Paper, Pencils, Ink, Note-Books, Tools,
Cooking Supplies, Wood, etc.
1050 Pupils at 2.65 $2782.50
1 14 cents a day. (Exact itemization is impossible.)
High School Text-Books.
1 set of West's Histories, 25 at 1.50
$37.50}
Books
French Dictionaries, 29 at 1.50 with disc.
29.00 }
Already
Simple French Songs, 57 at .70 with disc.
33.56 |
Bought
Advanced French
7.56 J
107.75
Commercial Books $200.
Replenished Text-Books in regular High School 150.
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IPSWICH SCHOOL REPORT.
Elementary School Text-Books. (Mimimum Requirement.)
Estimate
First Grade 2 sets
80 books at .30
$24.00
Second Grade 2 sets
80 books at .30 24.00
Third Grade 2 sets
60 books at .35 21.00
Fourth Grade 5 sets
150 books at .40
60.00
Fifth Grade 4 sets
150 books at .45
67.50
Sixth Grade 2 sets
80 books at .50 40.00
Seventh Grade 2 sets
80 books at .60 48.00
Set Elementary Histories 40 books at .75
30.00
Set 7th & 8th Grade " 40 books at 1.00
40.00
Set Arithmetics
40 books at .80
32.00
386.50
Estimated cost to fill out sets already in use
75.00
461.50
Fuel and Light.
Coal and Wood
1,800.
Gas and Electricity
50.
Water Rates
129.
Based on last year's expense
1979.13
Total General Expense
2,000.
Salaries
24,655.
Elementary Text-Books
465.
High School Text-Books
475.
Buildings and Grounds
3,500.
Supplies
2,783.
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IPSWICH SCHOOL REPORT.
Furniture
1,532.
Transportation
2,00 ?.
Janitor
2,375.
Insurance
275.
Graduation Expense
160.
40,210.
Methods of Financing.
$2500. of outlay under the caption Buildings and Grounds is permanent improvement.
$1000. of outlay under the caption Furniture is for perma- ent equipment. Thus $3500. is not for next year's running ex- pense, but is immediately required for permanent improvement. . This equipment will be used for the next twenty years.
It does not seem fair that one year's appropriation shou'd pay the entire expense of a twenty year investment.
I would suggest, therefore, that you consider the feasibility of partial payments for this $3500.
,
Summary of Section IV.
The Public Schools are a Town's chief industry, and true economy calls urgently for more adequate support.
The two critical tests of any system are number of over-age pupils, and the number of those leaving before completion of the course. Both these tests show us under par.
The following recommendations aim at removing the causes of these weaknesses:
1. Closing of Candlewood School.
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IPSWICH SCHOOL REPORT.
2. Consolidate 7th and 8th grades and procure a man Principal.
3. Increase efficiency of Janitor service by having one full time man at the Winthrop and High School.
4. Make ample provision for much needed text-books.
5. Slight increase in the appropriation for Evening Schools.
6. Make provision for holding experienced teachers.
7. Extend the work of our Manual Training and Domestic Science departments.
8. Increase the usefulness of the High School by providing (a) better equipment; (b) a special laboratory; and (c) heat for Hall; (d) more courses to meet the real needs of all pupils.
9. These measures call for an increase in the appropria- tion.
Section V.
V. Things to Think About.
A. A New School Building.
B. Next Year's Work.
A. New Quarters for the High School.
From the Committee's Report for last year I find: "The time is rapidly approaching when a new school building must necessarily be erected in the centre of the town to supply the needs of the school department. We would recommend that
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IPSWICH SCHOOL REPORT.
the Town consider the purchase of land and the erection of an eight-room building for graded school work. The teaching of the grades would be more beneficial to the scholars, and the care of such building more economical to the Town. Some of the smaller schools could be discontinued. We trust the Town will seriously consider this recommendation."
At present there can be no question as to the urgent need for more room. At present the High School, the Domestic Science and the Manual Training Departments are seriously crowded. The question is not, "Is it wise to build?" but "What kind of a school house shall we build?"
The piecing out policy which simply had to be resorted to this year should not become a permanent practice. True econ- omy demands that the following principles be lived up to when we build a substantial increase to our system:
First: A sufficient increase to meet the reasonable needs for at least twenty years.
Second: A building which is so planned that all of it can be used for legitimate school purposes.
What we should not build is:
1. A house so small that in a few years it will have to be enlarged, or so cheap that it will call for repairs within a de- cade.
2. A building which will not be a distinct advance by way of equipment. Thus a new Grammar School would be simply a duplication of buildings already suited for grammar school work. We should have more equipment, but not distinctly bet- ter equipment.
3. No building should be erected unless the roof, base- ment and all of the floors are utilized.
$
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IPSWICH SCHOOL REPORT.
In my judgment we can obtain the largest yield on money expended by the erection of a new High School. I mention the following reasons:
1. The Manning Building is adapted for 7th and 8th grades, though not for a real High School. Thus a new High School building would solve the problem of room for both Grammar and High School. While a new Grammar School would leave the crowded High School facilities unimproved.
2. In a new High School proper regard would be given to sufficient laboratory space, and to a Manual Training room, to proper conditions for a Commercial Department, and probably an office for the School Committee and Superintendent. The roof should be utilized for an open-air gymnasium. At present a total neglect of the muscles and lungs of our pupils slows down their brains.
3. A new High School would provide enough recitation and study room for the High School. Next Year, unless some- thing is done, I for one am puzzled as to where the High School pupils will find desk room. We have four large and two small recitation rooms. In these rooms pupils study and recite at the same time. Such a practice as Mr. Kingsley points out is wasto- ful. These rooms could be used for much needed grammar schools if a new building was erected.
The new building would be so arranged that pupils would not study and recite at the same time in the same room, giving both teachers and pupils fair conditions for good work.
The new building should be a High School for quite anoth- er reason. The present building offers no attractions for our pupils. It does not help to keep pupils in school. A new Grammar School would make it by contrast all the more unat- tractive. Comparatively the High School would be weakened,
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IPSWICH SCHOOL REPORT.
and the High School is the very place that should be strength- ened. A new High School building would be the best building in our system, and the pupils would look forward to going there. It would prove a no mean help in holding pupils in school. With the facilities for High School work, now conspic- uous by their absence, which a new building would provide, the High School life could be so enriched and broadened and made more valuable that we would lose fewer pupils through just "lack of interest." Remember that we are putting on the market as finished products far less than 50 per cent. of our raw mate- rial. We lose many scholars during High School. If we are correct in trying to have attractive homes for boys and girls to sleep in, it is equally important that they have an attractive school to work in. The High School age is an impressionable one. Many get their permanent bent during these years. It is highly important that we do not as little as we can, but as much as we can to make the influences of these years what they ought to be.
Our pupils should have:
1. A competent and sufficiently large corps of teachers.
2. They should have a modern and convenient building. We need one large central building.
If it is a Grammar School, we will provide for our Element- ary Grades for many years. But the High School will be still seriously handicapped.
If our new building is a High School, the Manning Building will solve the problem of room in our grades, and the new. building will give us a fair chance in the High School. Is it not evident then that a High school building will meet fully the needs of the Schools?
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